Africa on Foot is no stranger to extraordinary big cat sightings. There’s often a whirlwind of cat videos and images flooding our inbox on a daily basis – we’re not complaining but we’re often taken aback at the absolute abundance of lion and leopard sightings within the Klaserie! Over the past few days, the Trilogy trio and leopardess Rhulani + cub were spotted while out on game drive. Quite an extravaganza of cat sightings!
The dominant lions of the area include the Ross pride, the Ross pride breakaway females + cubs, the Trilogy males and the Hercules pride. All three boys from the Trilogy were seen over the weekend. They weren’t doing anything particularly news breaking, but rather indulging in what lions do best – relaxing, scratching and eyeing out the game viewer. Ah…the Trilogy boys, with their manes that flow like maple syrup and their aloof mannerisms, it’s hard not to love this dynamic trio !
Rhulani has returned to the Africa on Foot traverse, which has delighted everybody at camp. She has been seen quite regularly over the past few weeks together with her adorably shy cub. Rhulani is a beautiful leopard who carries herself with such grace. The cub is still very shy and introverted; but once the confidence develops we expect a stealthy cat to confidently emerge from hiding. Rhulani seem completely non-plussed with the presence of vehicles and hopefully her cub will adopt the same attitude.
About 4 – 5 days ago Rhulani and her cub were seen on an impala kill. When guests saw Rhulani over the weekend she was actually finishing off the morsels from that kill. After savouring the last pieces of her meal she got up and ambled into the bush. She was heard contact calling for her cub and her distinct bark like call reverberated throughout the area.
What we find interesting about the Rhulani sighting is that she initiated two kills in the same area – close to a drainage line. Leopards love drainage lines because they can remain hidden and camouflaged from their competitors. If Rhulani’s cub is shy, it makes sense that they enjoy returning to this “safe zone”. We are hoping there will be other kills in the same area in the future – we’ll just keep checking.
And what about the Trilogy? Well, we suspect we’ll see them patrolling their domain and asserting their dominance in their territory over the next few days. This weekend certainly has been an enjoyable extravaganza of leopard and lion sightings at Africa on Foot.
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